Tunable cell therapies

Sigilon Therapeutics Inc. is developing allogeneic cell therapy implants for protein deficiency disorders that thread the needle between protein replacement therapies that require frequent dosing, and gene and cell therapies that are hard to dose-adjust.

The biotech’s Afibromer technology encapsulates cells that are engineered to express therapeutic proteins over a sustained period within biocompatible spheres, or beads, which consist of chemically modified alginate.

The beads shield the cells from immune attack, so patients would not need to take immunosuppressive drugs. The beads themselves are non-immunogenic and do not induce fibrosis, a common complication of implants.

Data published by Sigilon scientific co-founders Daniel Anderson and Robert Langer in Nature Medicine in 2016 showed beta cells encapsulated using the Afibromer platform induced glycemic correction for 174 days after implantation in diabetic mice, and implants retrieved after day 174 contained viable, insulin-producing cells.